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The film opens with Costa-Gavras' statement that the events of the film are true. At first, when Ed Horman arrives in the unnamed Latin American country, which is clearly meant to be Chile, where his son Charles worked, Ed blames his son's and daughter-in-law's radical political views for his disappearance. He is later crushed when discovering that the government he reveres so highly has been involved with Charles's disappearance and possible death as a witness in the killings by the Pinochet Junta, aided by the American government.

He finds that his son was sincere about his politics but terrified of violence, and that the U.S. had many interests in the country that have been enhanced by the coup and its aftermath. One U.S. diplomat is polite and friendly but constantly lies to him; a high-ranking American military attache is blunter and basically tells Ed that whatever happened to Charles was his own fault, noting "You play with fire, you get burned." When Ed receives proof that Charles was murdered by the junta and that the U.S. let it happen, he tells the diplomat that he's going to file a lawsuit and see that he's put in jail for his evil deeds.

As a bookend of sorts to Costa-Gavras' assertion that the events of Missing are true, the film ends with a postscript stating that after his return to the United States, Ed received the body of his son Charles seven months later, making an autopsy impossible, and that a subsequent lawsuit against the US government was dismissed. It also adds that the State Department denies their involvement in the Pinochet coup, a position maintained to the present day.

Missing is based on a book that was first published under the title The Execution of Charles Horman: An American Sacrifice (1978) by Thomas Hauser (later republished under the title Missing in 1982), and inspired by the case of Charles Horman, who vanished in Chile.[1] The film was shot in Mexico,[5] with a budget of $9.5 million from Universal Studios, marking Costa-Gavras' most expensive production.[1]

The score is by the Greekelectronic composer Vangelis. The movie's piano theme has been used extensively in commercials, but an official release of the film's soundtrack has not yet occurred. The main theme appeared first on Vangelis' 1989 album Themes. The main theme is also available on the Festival de Cannes (60th Anniversary) compilation of famous soundtracks. A bootleg release of the soundtrack exists. A sung version with lyrics by Tim Rice has been recorded by Elaine Paige and Nana Mouskouri. A 7 inch single was released by Polydor in 1989 [6]

Missing was released in theaters on February 12, 1982, in limited theaters and was released widely on March 12, 1982, in 733 theaters. It ranked at #3 at the box office, grossing $2.3 million. In its first week, it grossed $5.5 million. In its second weekend, it landed at #5, making $1.8 million. For its second week, it made $2.3 million. After 49 days and 7 weeks in theaters, the film made between $14[2] and $16 million in the US.[3]

The film was released on both VHS and Laserdisc, in 1982 and 1987, by MCA Videocassette, MCA Videodisc, and MCA Home Video respectively. The VHS version was pulled from the market due to the lawsuit filed against director Costa-Gavras. Universal Home Video re-released Missing on DVD in 2004, following the dismissal of the lawsuit. A special edition DVD was released by The Criterion Collection in October 2008.

Both the film and Thomas Hauser's book The Execution of Charles Horman were removed from the United States market following a lawsuit filed against Costa-Gavras and Universal Pictures's (then) parent company MCA by former ambassador Nathaniel Davis and two others for defamation of character. A lawsuit against Hauser himself was dismissed because the statute of limitations had expired. Davis and his associates lost their lawsuit, after which the film was re-released by Universal in 2006.[citation needed]

Roger Ebert gave the film three stars, writing that while the film was being cited for courage in criticism of the U.S. government, the criticism was clouded by its direction, but the best scenes were where Lemmon and Spacek's character were bogged down by the embassy's niceties in their search.[4]Vincent Canby, writing for The New York Times, positively reviewing the message and Ricardo Aronovich's cinematography.[5]

In his 2015 Movie Guide, Leonard Maltin awarded Missing three and a half stars, highlighting Lemmon's acting and crediting Costa-Gavras as a skilled director.[7] The film has a 97% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 29 reviews.[8]